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Edgy DC Oct 30 2007 09:06 AM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Oct 30 2007 01:16 PM

="Marty Noble "]The best Mets center fielders I've seen, in order, are (Mike) Cameron, Del Unser, Carlos Beltran, Elliott Maddox, (Tommie) Agee, Jay Payton, Don Hahn, Lenny Dykstra and Mookie Wilson. Where to begin. (1) No Mazzilli. Young Mazzilli was as good as young Mookie was. Mookie's arm wasn't for crap until after injuries, while Mazzilli never really threw well, but he took better routes to the ball. (2) Elliot Maddox? I'm thinking he's benefiting from his last name being a homonym of Gary Maddux's. If he was so good, why did he only make 42 of his 157 Met outfield appearances there? (Noble's answers: "Partly because of injury, partly because he could play third and right and partly because management wanted Lee Mazzilli to be the center fielder, Maddox started merely 25 games in center field in 1978 and '79, his lone years with the Mets.") But even in his best (pre-knee injury) years with the Yankees and Texas, Maddox played on the corner half as often as center. (3) I've always considered Dykstra an over-rated showboat, and always considered Payton underappreciated, but never considerd JP better than or equal to Dykstra, Wilson, Hahn (never saw him much), or Mazzilli. (4) The unranked include McRae, Johnson, Thompson, Hickman, and Boston. I can live with that. Of those, I think, Johnson was the best. I can't speak much about Hickman. I guess Piersall and Ashburn didn't see enough time there and had little left --- like Mays --- to put them in consideration, but both were considered at the top of their field before becoming Mets. My main objection is Maddox (and the lack of a serial comma after Dyksta's name), but I have no doubt that Noble put a lot of thought into this.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Oct 30 2007 09:12 AM

Maddox is a head scratcher. I remember him playing 3rd base. I'll be honest, I didn;t watch Mets games carefully enough to form opinions of defense between Hahn and Unser or whatever. I will say Beltran is quite good out there. Cameron covered even more ground, though he did make the occasional careless error.

Centerfield Oct 30 2007 09:16 AM

I think Beltran is better than Cameron. I've never seen a guy consistently take perfect routes to the ball. Arm is good too.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 30 2007 09:18 AM

I got a kick out of the e-mail that Marty Noble was responding to when he ranked Mets centerfielders. The writer was offended that Noble had earlier referred to Cameron as the Mets best centerfielder ever. He said, "I've been watching baseball for 30 years! How can you put Cameron over Agee and Mays? Didn't you see that catch that Mays made in the 1954 World Series?" I liked how Noble pointed out that 30 years ago, Agee and Mays had both already retired, and that Mays was playing for the Giants, not the Mets, in 1954. I was surprised to see Del Unser so highly ranked. I barely remember him, and if pressed, would have considered him more of a Danny Heep kind of guy, more of a bat than a glove. I don't remember him at all as a defensive whiz, but he was a Met during a couple of years when I was following the team but wasn't paying as much attention. (Too distracted by Marvel comics.)